Snow Woman : The Speaking
by Sipping on Moonshine
Summary: The legends of the Snow Women all have one common point : hat they can be ruthless such as the storms they create, and that they can be as gentle and pure as the first snow. Can mercenaries be the same way...?
1. Prologue

The Southern kingdom of Feudal Japan was burning. It was bristling with crimson flames licking at the sky, the heat making the city melt in a wave of wrath. It was deserted prior to this infernal destruction, but it was still horrid. Burning, dying, all of it. It was all dying. The bronze skinned denizens of the village could only watch the fire eat away at their huts, could only watch the flames become full, and start to spread towards the forest. They had nowhere to run; no person in the village was powerful enough to quell the anger of the gods. Young children were quivering in fear, large eyes bulging open with the realization that their homes were to never be played in again; that they could not ever play with their homemade hay-dolls in their front yards. The older ones of the village saw their hard-pressed homes falling to the earth in ashen heaps. Thunder and lightning started to snuggle into the empty space, further bringing the village into destruction.

What had happened here? The villagers hadn't known what happened. It was presumably after their princess had fled the village. Sakiiki Zetsubou was rightly being trained as a priestess, but was more adept in calling upon demonic powers to gather her visions. Being a Yuki-Onna, it was easier for her to use her deeper demon in order to make her visions become a reality. Being a priestess; using the gods to help her predict everything, was not her prerogative. She much rather liked her own powers, and her visions were usually right. Staring into a ball of ice, she could predict the uprising or the downfall of her father's kingdom.

Needless to say, this use of demonic prowess deeply disturbed the Elder of the village, whom was Sakiiki's supervisor. He knew that she was a Yuki-Onna, and that her demonic prowess was strong as well as very influential. She had ties to branches of royalty and military personnel throughout Feudal Japan, such as her people were very politically inclined and intelligent. They were usually supervisors, Emperor's assistants. The more physically adept were lieutenants, Generals, captains, and/or guardians to the Emperor. Sakiiki had come from out of nowhere, seemingly, quickly taking root in the village and masquerading as a prophet. The Elder, Chief Kenmei Tetsujin, had hesitantly initiated Sakiiki to be in the tribe. Her influence had already spread to the people, and Kenmei had no intention of displeasing his people.

As it was, Sakiiki was to divulge her story. Why she had wandered, why she was here now. She said onto Chief Kenmei and his council, that she was in fact a Yuki-Onna, a snow woman that had migrated from the mountains to the small village in need of food, shelter, and funds. She was disheveled when she first appeared, with her dark hair curled upwards to her shoulders, knots and kinks and fly-away threads of tinted dark purple making a sort of furry halo around her head. Her dark skin betrayed her species, as did her eyes. Her kimono was also made with darker colors, and the Chieftains could not understand. Their village was already poor, so why would she not go to another village or, even better, a castle city with an Emperor and stalls and foods and things as such as fair?

Sakiiki didn't divulge her purpose for stopping in the small village, but she sat in a small hut in the center of the village, near the well, giving prophecies and wisdom to whomever wanted them. Kenmei and the Elders wanted to drive Sakiiki away, since her presence was making the people codependent on her wisdom and visions. The village needed to be fiercely independent, or it would be trampled over by larger tribes and cities. Kenmei and the Elders needed Sakiiki to go.

As the years played their course, Sakiiki would usually go into a deep hiding during the summer, where no predictions were made, no visions were spoken, and no destinies were prophesied. It was due to Sakiiki's extreme fear of fire, and because of the dry grass, random fires would spontaneously burst, and threaten to eat the small village up. Sometimes, when the sun would beat down a bit gently upon the red earth, Sakiiki would emerge; tossing her silken veil away from her eyes and watching the earth become more cracked, and less fertile for harvest. That summer was the predecessor to the catastrophe that would ravage the village.

Sakiiki fled a year later from the village, that day in summer. When the village awoke, nobody knew of where she was…or why she left. She had run towards the north, some people presumed. She _was _a Yuki-Onna after all. It was cold there; perfect for her to gain new food, funds, and shelter. Others said that if it was material things she was feigning for, she would have gone to the west. That sphere of Japan had the greatest influence, and, in turn, the most material possessions. Others said that as she ran, her body got too hot to support itself, and she melted and made the earth dark, thick, and fertile. Nobody knew. Nobody.

Kenmei Tetsujin burst into flames that night in summer. His cries of agony ran through the village and through the blood of his people. His skin was bubbling, and melting away from his brittle bones, which were cracking open like the claws of a lobster due to the heat. The elders could only watch as the fire gathered into a large dome shape, and it washed over the village. There was nothing left of green there. It was all so lifeless. The people could only watch as the village burned, alive, the elders left to bubble, crack open, and die. The fire enveloped the blood of the foolish men, and the villagers only wished they hadn't driven Sakiiki away.

A/N: This was my very first chapter and story for this sight! I hope you all continue reading; bye-bye~


	2. The Large Village House

The sun was ravaging the old woman's body.

She was leaning on an oak cane, which was curved inwards with a metallic tip. She wasn't severely hunched over, but the cane was a great help in her strolling about. Her darkly hued hair had threads of gray mingling with the healthier locks, and her eyes looked dull; tired. She was approaching a small village, and she was running out of strength. Her bronze, gnarled hands were blistering and bursting, small creeks of blood making her palms an alarming rose. She gave a long exhale, and then started to do the daunting, exhausting task of trying to find a cool place to stay.

Sakiiki's true form was shining through. She hadn't even had contact with anything cold in weeks. Two weeks was her limit; she would start to decay and fester without anything cold inside of her or touching her. She needed cold water, cold ice, cold anything. As long as it touched even her breath, she would be fine. Sakiiki came to a small hut, and gently rapped her cane against the door. The door opened, and Sakiiki was panting steadily now, sweat beading her forehead. Even her body temperature was rising. She only needed to be in a completely cold environment for hours, and her body temperature would go back to extremely below freezing again. That was what kept her going. She usually carried a flask filled with cool ice, but Sakiiki noticed that she needed some sort of blessing for eternal ice.

"H-Hello?"

"Could you let an old woman come inside…?" Sakiiki looked up into the eyes of a young man, and he shook his head.

"I have my own family to take care of. I'm sorry."

Before Sakiiki could protest, the door was closed, and she was left outside to endure the sun's harsh devices. She went from door to door to door, and each time was rejected by villagers. Some had a large family inside, another had a sick person inside which required quarantine. The last small hut she visited was just severely rude, and she had slammed the door into her face without the mention of even a purpose. Sakiiki was left to endure the encroaching heat alone. In this state, she was incredibly weak, and getting weaker by the mile. How much more could she take?

She left the small huts behind, and traveled further down the road until she reached a large, tall building. It seemed as wide as the tiny village she had left behind her, and about the height of a castle building. Who had built it, Sakiiki wondered. She approached, almost falling over. Her cane was no longer able to support her; even the small stick of wood seemed too heavy for her. Sakiiki managed to drag her hot, drained body to the door of the large home, and she slammed her cane against the door once. When she was met with silence, she fell onto her knees, and leaned against her heavy cane, closing her eyes. It seems that this would be where her journey stopped.

* * *

When Sakiiki awoke, she was in a cold area. There were bodies of animals hanging from ropes, and there were large barrels of salt sitting along the eastern wall. Below her was a bed of ice, and steam seemed to be lifting from it. Sakiiki rubbed her head, and noticed it was smooth. She looked down at her hands, and saw that they were young and supple again, not gnarled and blistered. She was nude, noticing that her legs, her entire body, had taken on the characteristics of a young woman. Sakiiki must have come into contact with this ice, and now her body temperature was cold once again. Sakiiki sat up, and listened. She seemed to be in a closed room; there were noises outside. It was enough to be a bustling village.

"Oh, you're awake!" Sakiiki looked up, seeing a young gentleman with long brown hair, and gray eyes. What a commodity in these parts, Sakiiki thought. He was wearing garbs that were blue in color, held by a white tie. "Let me get you some garbs to wear, m'lady."

The gentleman bowed and left the room, shutting the door behind him. He yelled something out to the persons outside of the room, and a cacophony of cheering erupted from the room, with the boom of a large drum shaking the area to its foundation. Sakiiki jumped slightly, and then waited for the gentleman to come back. Instead of the man coming for her, two ladies came, helping Sakiiki onto her feet. They wrapped a white kimono around her first, and then wrapped a floral, extremely colorful kimono around the white one. It was bold red, with a lot of beautiful bold flowers printed onto it. Sakiiki stared at it in wonder; she hadn't worn such bold colors before.

"You turned the water to ice! You must be a Yuki-Onna!" Sakiiki nodded, and the women led her out of the room, tying her long hair back as she emerged. "The Yuki-onna is awake!"

The people all cheered loudly, and Sakiiki's green eyes were wide. There must have been a whole village inside of this house. Sakiiki felt her hair get twisted into a bun, and then the rest of her hair fell down her back. Sakiiki was instantly hounded, people reaching to touch her. They had never seen a Yuki-Onna before; it was only natural, this curiosity. Sakiiki was frightened, taken aback, however. She backed up against the door of the cold room, and looked for the slit that would mark the opening of the door. Her fingers curled into the opening, and she started to pull the door open. The hands just kept on lashing out at her, and Sakiiki started to press herself against the door as she opened it, so that she could fall inside the room.

"Stop it!" The hands receded, and Sakiiki looked upwards to a staircase. The gentleman was standing there again, his hair tied back into a ponytail. His brown hair framed his face slightly, with some locks tickling his cheeks. "Don't you people have manners?"

The crowd parted, and the man walked until he reached Sakiiki, standing a good deal close to her. Sakiiki looked scared, still, her eyes wide in fright, not wonder. The gentleman bowed, and then the people made a semi-circle around his body.

"Welcome, yuki-onna, to our humble abode. Please, eat and drink to your content. You are welcome."

Sakiiki raised a thin eyebrow, and the people all cheered once more. Two loud drums sounded, and servant girls started to come out with vases of sake. Sakiiki felt herself shiver, because the excitement was too much for her. The temperature was rising, and Sakiiki needed to get away. She was becoming too uncomfortable. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and Sakiiki let out a yelp. She looked to her left side, and watched the man from before take her hand.

"My name is Hibiki. Yours, yuki-onna?"

"Sakiiki." Hibiki nodded, and Sakiiki made another motion to speak. "A yuki-onna priestess; have you heard of her?"

"Another one? In these parts; only in the mountains that are north of here that divide southern japan from northern japan. Other than that, I have no evidence of…"

"Mountains north of here."

"Yes, that's what I said."

Sakiiki bit her lower lip gently, looking down at her feet. Then she looked back upwards, towards Hibiki. He craned his ear downwards towards her lips, so that she could whisper into his ear.

"I need a flask of water."

* * *

**A/N: This was the second chapter of Snow Woman : The Speaking! **

**Sakiiki decided to travel onwards to find the Yuki-Onna priestess that will bestow upon her the greatest ice of all.**

**Read on to find out if her journey is as easy as it appears to be...  
**


End file.
